Friday, July 19, 2013

KAILALI

UML CENTRAL COMMITTEE STARTS DISCUSSIONS OF CHAIRMAN KHANAL’S REPORT Kathmandu, 20 July; Discussions start
Saturday at the UML central committee on Chairman Jhalanath Khanal’s nine-point political proposal and a strategy to emerge as the biggest party after
the November assembly elections Discussions are also being held to convene a national representative meetKhanal has poposed a party general convention in March.The focus of the discussions is around the November elections.The central committee meet started Friday.The party also reviewed its month-long campaign that just concluded to
prevate for the vote.Nnnn

CPN MAOIST PREPARING FOR FORMAL RESPONSE TO INVITES FOR TALKS.Kathmandu, 20 July: CPN Maoist is
preparing to respond officially to invitations from government and the four-party HLPM inviing it for talks
to discuss demands for a roundtable conference to participate in November
elections.The formal reaction will come by Monday, Spokesperson Phampa Bhusal said.
The party will talk with 32 other parties before adopting a formal
position.HLPM of four parties now headed by Chairman Prachanda will hold separate talks with MJFN Chairman Upendra Yadav.Prachanda and Mohan Baidhaya who chairs CPN Maoist held preliminary talks FridaynnnnCDC WORKING ON COMPLETING ITS SUGGESTIONS ON ELECTORAL CONSTITUENCIES
Kathmandu, 20 July: The Constituency
Delimitation Commission (CDC) is mulling over re-marking constituencies in
‘some districts’ that witnessed a ‘drastic population growth’ in the last
decade.
According to a highly-placed source in the CDC, most of those districts,
including Jhapa and Chitwan, have seen their population shoot up by more than
100,000. The source, however, did not say how many such districts the CDC plans
to re-work
on, Pranab Kharel writes in The Kathmandu Post..
“The constituencies in these districts will be adjusted by taking into
consideration the population discrepancies in the Village Development
Committees,” a CDC member said, requesting anonymity. While Jhapa had a population
of 688109 in 2001, it went up to 812,650 in the 2011 census report. Chitwan’s
population also went up by 107,936 and reached 579,984 in the 2011 census.
According to the member, the CDC has not been able to do substantive work,
given its limitations.
“However, inter-constituency arrangement is also part of the commission and
we are working towards this end,” said the member.
The re-delineation plan has become a tough nut to crack for the CDC also
because the political parties have competing demands on the matter. While
Madhes-centric parties want the constituencies increased in areas where the
population has gone up, the Nepali Congress and the CPN-UML argue that only 35
constituencies that were added to the actual 205, following the Madhes uprising
of 2007, can be re-worked on. The latter cite constitutional provisions. While
Article 63 (3A) of the Interim Constitution calls for increasing constituencies
in proportion to the percentage of population increase in the Madhes and the
population growth in the hills and mountains, Article 154 (8) prohibits
reducing the number of seats from the original 205.
Meanwhile, the CDC is mulling over various options on selecting a threshold
population. One of the options is fixing the population threshold by dividing
the total population (26,494,504) by 240 constituencies. Another option is
dividing the total population by the 25 districts to which the 35
constituencies were added. However, CDC officials say both these options are
unlikely to give a clear picture.
“If we fix the population threshold by dividing the total population with
240 constituencies, the same threshold will not be applicable in mountain
districts which have a sparse population,” another CDC
official said. The official added that the CDC is “all-prepared” to submit
its report within the stipulated time (August 16).
The official, however, added that the commission could take some more time
if it decides to wait for suggestions from a cross-party taskforce formed to
assist the CDC.Nnnn1,200 FAMILIES DISPLACED BY KAILALI FLOODS
Kathmandu, 20 July: Continuous rainfall since Thursday night has flooded
some VDCs and Dhangadi
Municipality in Kailali
district. Around 1,200 families have been displaced in Dhangadi, Mohan Budhair writes
in The Kathmandu post from Dhangadi.
Floodwaters from rivers have waterlogged the municipality and its adjoining
areas, while lack of a proper sewage system has made matters worse. Public
movement has been affected as most parts of Dhangadi are submerged. Floodwaters
have entered shops, causing damage worth thousands of rupees. Schools, shops
and transport
service in Dhangadi remained closed on Friday.
Police rescued more than 50 families in Uttar Behadi village and moved them
to a nearby school after their homes were flooded. More than 500 families from
Santoshi Tol, Dhangadigaon, Shivanagar and Campus Road, Bishalnagar and Chatakpur in
Dhangadi Municipality have been displaced.
Around 200 families in Srilanka village have also been displaced after
floodwaters entered Pahalmanpur, Lalbhojhi, Ramshikhar Jhala and Bhajani.
Keshavraj Bhatta of the Nepal Red Cross Society said the displaced are taking
shelter in local school buildings and their relatives’ houses.
Personnel from the Nepal Army, the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police,
along with Red Cross volunteers, have been mobilised in the affected areas.
In Dhangadi, at least 50 houses were destroyed, while property was damaged
in around 3,000 houses. The compound walls of more than 100 houses collapsed,
while domestic animals were swept away in some places. According to the
Attariya-based field office of the Departemet of Hydrology and Metereology,
Kailali district received 352.8 mm of rainfall in the past two days. Some
villages in Kanchanpur have also been affected by floodwaters from the Mohana
and Doda rivers. Authorities have, meanwhile, put a halt to crossing through
the brige at Banabasa Barrage after the water level in the Mahakali river
crossed the danger mark.Landslide dams Lamjung river
A landslide has blocked a portion of the the Khudi river in Ghanapokhara-8
in Lamjung, putting downstream settlements at high risk of a flashflood. The
debris has affected the river flow, resulting in the water level to rise around
150 meters high, police said. The police warned that the blockage could burst
any time.
The local administration on Friday evacuated 120 families to safer places,
while continuous rainfall has made the situation worse. Around 90 houses close
to the river are highly vulnerable. Ghanapokhara, Simpani and Khudi VDCs are
also at risk. Meanwhile, landslips in different parts of Pyuthan have
obstructed transport service. Some houses and office buildings in the district
headquarters are also at risk of landslides, district police chief Ishwar Karki
said. nnnn